More counseling options available for Sarnia-area youth

Getting access to counseling just once is sometimes enough for youth dealing with mental health issues, says the head of a Sarnia-area support agency.

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Getting that support when they need it is key, said Craig McKenzie, interim executive director with St. Clair Child and Youth Services.

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The agency is one of 31 leads for youth mental health in Ontario partnering on a province-wide, free counseling option for anyone 17 and younger, he said.

Called One Stop Talk, the Health Ministry-funded therapy service borrows clinicians from each of the partner agencies in shifts for audio or video counseling sessions, he said.

Youth, after receiving that counseling session, “if they need more, they will get linked with the children’s mental health center in their community,” he said.

A soft launch has been underway for months, but the service expanded to more areas across the province in September, he said.

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“We now have the capacity to be able to respond to the needs in communities from Windsor to Waterloo to North Bay and everywhere in between,” he said, noting feedback has been good so afar.

“I think youth appreciate they can reach out and have the session when they need it” where they are, he said.

“They could be in their bedroom, the car.”

Hours are noon to 8 pm Monday through Friday, and noon to 4 pm Saturday, he said, noting interpretation services are available in 200 languages.

St. Clair Child and Youth provided services to 2,000 people in the year ending March 2023, he said earlier this year.

There’s a few days’ wait, maybe up to a week, for regular counseling services booked directly with the Point Edward agency, McKenzie said, noting crisis calls are seen within 48 hours.

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More intensive services take longer, he said.

“This provides you an opportunity to get some counseling in the interim,” he said about One Stop Talk.

“It complements our service,” he said.

To connect to One Stop Talk, call 1-855-416-8255 or visit onestoptalk.ca.

“There’s a bunch of technology that went into creating a confidential system that would connect with all of our different systems across the province,” McKenzie noted.

St. Clair Child and Youth used to have community walk-in clinics but those ended with the COVID-19 pandemic, he said.

“It provided an opportunity I think to look at our model” and be more responsive to community needs, he said.

“Families preferred to call in and book a session … rather than sit in our lobby perhaps and have to wait a few hours before they get to see a clinician,” he said.

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